Pregnancy Series: Month 2

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This is when it starts to get fun, folks.

And I’m only half-joking.

I say fun because by the end of the second month, you’ll likely have a dating scan to determine the actual age of your baby. The dating scan is done by ultrasound. By week 7 or 8, your baby is starting to look less like an alien and more like a baby. It’s so cool to see on a screen!

And your doctor will measure the baby to determine the likely date of conception (give or take 5 days…), but more importantly, your doctor will determine the likely date of birth, otherwise known as your due date.

In the age of Covid, I went to my dating scan masked and unaccompanied. I was slightly nervous and disappointed for my husband that he couldn’t be there, but we understood in the circumstances.

I kept thinking, thank god this is not my first rodeo. The first time I ever had a dating scan was when I got actual medical confirmation that I was going to lose my pregnancy basically at any time. My husband couldn’t join me for that appointment, either.

So it definitely felt weird going in to see my gyno alone again. But baby was of a normal size and apparently healthy for 8 weeks! Yes!

He or she kept showing us her back and bum. Looked so cute just apparently curled up asleep. Are babies even technically asleep or awake at 8 weeks? So many questions.

My gyno tends to date my pregnancies kinda early in my cycle… could I have really ovulated on Day 9? I don’t think so. It would explain why C was born 4 days after the due date.

If this baby is also born 4 days after the due date, it’ll be on June 6^th. D-Day. Good. Easy to remember.

(We live in Normandy… both of us are in tourism.)

Only a month to go until I pass the mythical 12-week mark. Then it will REALLY feel real.

In case I post this and we’re still in Covid times: something I learned in my appointment is that currently, in France, pregnant women are not considered an at-risk group for Covid until the 3rd trimester.

My friend tells me that in other countries, such as Germany and Ireland, pregnant women are considered at-risk because they will be treated in the ICU if they have severe Covid symptoms. I should hope anyone, pregnant or not, could go to the ICU if their symptoms were severe enough… so we’re really just arguing over semantics here.

Still, Papa and I are adopting a policy of precaution. We are wearing masks and maintaining our distance when we go to see friends. Somehow I feel like people would understand better if I were just to say, “Oh, it’s cause I’m pregnant.” But really, I shouldn’t have to justify why I’m following the recommended health measures.

So now I’m in a weird time of “I’m pregnant and it’s looking good!” but “I don’t want anyone to know before 12 weeks.” Still a lonely time. And I have to watch what I say. But let’s be real, I don’t see anyone nowadays, so what’s the difference?

Symptoms update. Feeling like I have more energy again, YES! Eating is still hit or miss. I still cannot fathom how it’s possible to feel hungry AND nauseated at the same time.

I’m trying not to feel guilty about what I eat (loads of sweets and plates of pasta). The scale at the gyno’s said I was already 7 kilos lighter than at the same time in my last pregnancy… and I’m trying not to let that go to my head, ha!

In order to find more appealing things to eat, I’m expanding my diet to a wider variety of foods. Due to personal convictions, I usually go for organic, local produce and even packaged foods. But I am finding myself so bored and turned off by what we have available here, that I’m saying “screw it” and just getting the damn avocado from Peru already.

Oh, I bought leggings! I decided to hell with tight pants and just bought 3 pairs of black leggings. I have decided they will be My Uniform for this pregnancy. All I do is work from home anyway. No one sees me.

And I bought sweaters! Huge oversize sweaters that hide my growing belly but just make it look like I’m fashionably swimming in my clothes.

What else can I say? There’s not a whole lot going on at this point. I’m trying to enjoy being pregnant, as it’s likely the last time for me, and things are about to get busy in my business.

But for now, getting to watch a movie with Papa of an evening, uninterrupted, is very much appreciated indeed…

If you missed the first installment of my pregnancy series, you can find it here. You can keep up with subsequent months as they are published here.
Jessica

About the Author

Jessica is an American expat living the dream in Normandy. She is wife to a French hubby and mama to a Franco-American daughter, born in 2018, and one whippet. Passionate about all stages of writing, this Francophile created her blog in 2020 to help others navigate motherhood with a focus on conscious parenting and bilingual parenting. Bonne lecture !